Comments by at_large

Correction: "which points out that the Eastside and the Westside, voting this year, will not have any say in who's Mayor, since the Citywide Mayor race will be in the next term." is NOT what the Noozhawk story says. On rechecking, too early in the morning for commenting!, it correctly says that the Eastside/Westside district elections will not be at the same time as the at large mayor's election. Whether more or fewer voters turn out for city elections when their districts are not in play is problematic.

Correction: "which points out that the Eastside and the Westside, voting this year, will not have any say in who's Mayor, since the Citywide Mayor race will be in the next term." is NOT what the Noozhawk story says. On rechecking, too early in the morning, it correctly says that the Eastside/Westside district elections will not be at the same time as the at large mayor's election. Whether more or less of those voters turn out for city elections when their districts are not in play is problematic.

Thank you, Gerry DeWitt, for your call to Jackson and Williams, and thank you for your responses here. Mr Cappello's assertion that he would have preferred to work with the council for free is not believable. He and his plaintiffs refused to consider any alternatives to the present winner-take-all voting system, whether cumulative voting, as is used in quite a few places, or variations of it, including a rather complicated system in Cambridge, Ma.

There's an interesting story in Noozhawk (11 things to know ... Or some such headline) which points out that the Eastside and the Westside, voting this year, will not have any say in who's Mayor, since the Citywide Mayor race will be in the next term. So, that effectively disenfranchises the east side and the west side and the mesa, also voting this year! Hard to believe but that's the way it looks. (And it still will take 4 votes to accomplish anything, 5, for a charter change.)

Georgy, public housing and density go where property values are less. In general, that's the eastside, a process that is liable to be accelerated for both east and west sides, since those districts will likely be what used to be known as redlined.

This is what Mr Cappello's plaintiffs have brought - and it is the plaintiffs rather than the lawyer who are headlined in the lawsuit.

LATimes today, "No, California will not run out of water in a year""State water managers and other experts said Thursday that California is in no danger of running out of water in the next two years, even after an extremely dry January and paltry snowpack. Reservoirs will be replenished by additional snow and rainfall between now and the next rainy season, they said. The state can also draw from other sources, including groundwater supplies, while imposing tougher conservation measures.

"We have been in multiyear droughts and extended dry periods a number of times in the past, and we will be in the future," said Ted Thomas, a spokesman for the California Department of Water Resources. "In periods like this there will be shortages, of course, but the state as a whole is not going to run dry in a year or two years." ... http://www.latimes.com/local/californ...

I am not going to sign that petition, nor do I think that English needs to be respelled. Especially now in the time of spellchecking, there is little excuse for the dumbing down, as AllenJC,s last paragraph above.

MashaBell's argument about 3 years to learn to read and 10 to learn to write is ridiculous, without any substantiation. "Ridiculous" from both personal experience and from what I hear from an elementary school teacher in one of SB's less favored schools.

DRDAN, however, makes very valuable points and any proponent of changing the education system needs to read/reread it: what about the large majority of kids who are just supposed to get it, while so much attention and money goes to the special needs? How about changing teacher training to emphasize the subjects taught - and to not consider teachers as grade level fungible, assignable by the administration.

Certainly, teachers need to be able to recognize special needs, so increased knowledge of factors that affect learning is important, but what are the costs of this bill and what might be the unintended consequences, if any, on the most of the students? There are always unintended consequences in even the best of legislative intentions.

Even more important than teaching the teachers is teaching the parents. As for spelling changes: were that to happen by diktat, think of how all the world literature in English, a lingua franca, a second language of choice now throughout the world, would look, how hard it would be to read! Languages change organically as is happening with texting, and as has English over the centuries: read Chaucer and earlier writers to appreciate how much of a change there has been. ...So, imo, there being better alternatives to more state rules and regulations, I hope this bill does not pass and if it does that Brown will veto it.

Congratulations, Mr. Genis. Bullying, no matter who it is by, is despicable and that seemed to me (an Inactive member of the Bar) what the DA's office and the State Bar were doing.

This in the story is very telling: "...Genis charged this action constituted “yet another example of the deputy district attorney acting in ignorance and breaking the law.” While the review panel found Genis’s courtroom remarks “overstated,” they also found his State Bar complaint “factually true.” " I once believed, as they told us early in law school, that the role of the DA is to seek "justice"; somewhere along the way the DA's office either never got that teaching or forgot it.

Interesting point, random_kook! Of course, the GWD will make sure to penalize those who do "play" so that either way, we lose.

...Just reread Ms. Connell's last sentence, urging Goletan's to "step up to the plate". Problem is that the plate is pretty much empty and there's little left to scarf up. ...And if it's a baseball "plate" she's referring to, the Goleta game is pretty much over: developers whatever they want (thanks to a steady council majority of Aceves, Bennett and Vallejo) — conservationists/preservationists/Goodland supporters: zero.

Thanks for pointing out that this mad-seemingly building spree was part of the original council plan to destroy what was the "Goodland". I am puzzled, however, at how the WestStar development opposite Costco had historic water usage equivalent to all those housing units.

Agree with pardall... that UCSB students do not greatly contribute to Goleta traffic problems, but the expansion of UCSB certainly contributes to the pressure on IV and on the natural environment, generally.

However, the low income people servicing all those new housing units and the new hotels that the original council agreed to, are not, for the most part, "newcomers" to Goleta, since as Connell points out it's not likely they can afford to live here. Instead, they are and will be commuters worsening the traffic situation around Goleta. She writes, "Alternatively, newcomers may choose to live in Ventura, Santa Maria, or Lompoc, where housing is more affordable, particularly for a family with children seeking a single-family home. They would then join the 19,000 commuters to the South Coast" — "join" and increasing the numbers of commuters. It's no wonder that more a few Goleta voters severely rue their misguided vote for citihood.

Okay, "signed, sealed and delivered" but delivered where? When are we, the people of Santa Barbara, going to see a copy of the settlement done in our names? Does the Independent have a copy of it? Is it available online, if so where?

...As for the knife, it is illegal to have a weapon in the courtroom. I am surprised there was not a metal detector --- there is at the entrance to the Muni Court across the street where a 1"-long knife on a keychain had to be removed.